


Happily Ever After

by Ziba



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Curses, EnnoTana Week 2017, M/M, Shapeshifting, fairy tale, true love kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 22:04:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11090853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ziba/pseuds/Ziba
Summary: Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a prince was cursed by a witch to live his life in a tower guarded by a dragon, 'til the dragon slain and his lips touched by true love's kiss....Things don't go quite as expected.





	Happily Ever After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glitch_writes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitch_writes/gifts).



> It's Ennotana Week! :D  
> I hope you'll enjoy!

The thing about being imprisoned in a tower since you could remember is that you get bored easily. Sure, there’s books to read, but you can re-read the same books just so many times before you start dreaming full chapters from them. There’s also the occasional knight that tries to break in, but they are easily chased away by the dragon guarding the tower, so even that fun is cut short. Chikara kind of wishes the dragon that guards him wasn’t that good at his job, since that way the fights could have lasted a bit more and provided him with a source of entertainment.

Chikara vaguely remembers his family, knows that there’s a curse on him that can be broken only by “true love”, yadda yadda, but he just wishes for something in his days that wasn’t sleeping and pacing around in his room.

So when he leans out of the window one day, it’s just out of utter and complete boredom. He’s hoping to see maybe another knight coming to “save” him, or watch some animal passing by, heck, even just to catch a glimpse of the dragon basking in the sunlight. He certainly doesn’t expect to fall asleep as he watches the horizon, try to gain back his balance only to trip over the curtain of the window like a graceless sack of potato and start what can be only be described as a fall into the void.

He  _ supposes _ he can’t die until he gets his “happily ever after”, since the curse forbids him from leaving the tower until the dragon is slayed and he’s kissed by true love, but it doesn’t mean the whole experience doesn’t feel unpleasant. He closes his eyes, sighing. Hopefully when he’ll reopen them he’ll be in his room again. 

The sigh is forced out of his lungs as he impacts against something cold and scratchy that closes around his chest. He frowns, then opens one eye, then the other.

“Oi, ya alright?”

Well if it isn’t the dragon. It does make sense. He’s supposed to guard him, probably that extends to accidentally falling out of windows.

Chikara pushes at one of the claws. “I’d be better if you weren’t clutching me so hard.”

“Geez, ya’re welcome by the way.” The dragon looks mildly offended, and Chikara  _ almost _ feels bad for his manners.

The dragon flies up to the top of the tower, Chikara clutched against his chest, and perches himself to the cone-shaped roof, and thrusts Chikara back in his room. Chikara falls on his butt, and complains loudly. The dragon peeks inside the room, upside-down, and is he grinning?

“Har har, very funny.”

The dragon appears to fall down the window, but appears again a couple of seconds later, head entering the window. “So, this is your room? It’s a bit sad.”

Chikara’s knees go against his chest as he hugs them. “I wanted to go furniture shopping, but if you hadn’t noticed, I’m kind of stuck here.”

“I guess.” He looks inside, head bobbing from side to side. “Alright then, suppose that settles it. I’ll go back to my business while ya do yours.” The dragon starts to retreat, but Chikara bolts upright. Probably wanting to have conversation with his jailer isn’t the best idea, but he really wants to speak with someone. Anyone.

“Wait a second! Why must you just leave?”

The dragon blinks in confusion. “Well, I don’t think we’re supposed to talk?”

“Yeah I know but… I mean…” Chikara tries to find an argument that’s not “I’m really lonely and bored”, but fails, his fingers intertwining with each other. 

A chuckle echoes from the dragon’s chest, and Chikara regrets even asking. “Aw, his majesty is lonely?”

“Aren’t you?” is his clipped comeback.

That takes the dragon aback, and he tilts his head to the side, looking down. “...I guess.”

Chikara huffs and puffs his chest, vaguely proud, but the sad expression on the dragon’s face tugs at his own heart. There’s a moment of awkward silence, but then Chikara takes a step forward. “So, uh. What’s your name?”

“Ryuu.” Chikara’s lips twitch a bit. That’s one appropriate name. “What about ya?”

“You don’t know?”

“It’s not like it was in the application for the job.”

Chikara snorts. “Chikara.”

Ryuu’s tail whips behind him, looking like a dog wagging its tail. Chikara smiles. Maybe this won’t be to bad, after all.

-

“It’s a stupid story.”

“It has a beautiful, happy ending! And there’s so much adventure.”

Chikara sighs and looks down at the book in his hands. It’s torn and worn down for all the time it has been read. It’s not even one of his favorites, truth be told, but Ryuu had insisted that he read it to him after he had chased the nth knight. “I suppose I’m a bit jealous.”

Ryuu cocks his head to the side. “Oh?”

“The protagonists of these books can go anywhere, while I’m stuck here.”

“I’m--” Ryuu tries to apologize, even if Chikara’s situation is by no mean his fault, but Chikara waves the book around, stopping him before he could say anything.

“Oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to live vicariously through them.” He opens the book from chapter one. “Do you want me to read them?”

“Yes!”

Chikara smiles, the simple enthusiasm warming his chest. “Here we go.”

-

“Ryuu, let him go.”

“But--”

Chikara stares at him, giving him  _ the  _ look, and Ryuu sighs exaggeratedly, his claws opening from the cage around the knight who had come to break the Prince’s curse. The knight runs away immediately, and then turns around, raising his middle finger at the dragon, who sneers back, smoke puffing out of his nostrils, ready to give chase. Chikara, unimpressed, puts an arm out of his window, catching the tip of Ryuu’s flaring tail.

“Let him go, we were talking.”

“Those bastards piss me off.”

“Everyone pisses you off.”

Ryuu is still giving the running knight the stinky eye, but at least sits with his hind legs down and obeys. 

Since they started talking, they fell in an easy routine. Chikara reads Ryuu his books - he even does “the voices”, as Ryuu has pleaded many times - while Ryuu tells him about the land surrounding the tower, where he hunts for his food. It works for them. It keeps away both boredom and loneliness.

“As I was saying,” Chikara says, a bit forcefully to grasp Ryuu’s full attention, “I have no idea where my food comes from. I open the pantry and it’s always full.”

Ryuu finally breaks eye contact with the point the knight had disappeared in. “So ya have infinite food?”

Chikara shrugs. “Suppose it comes with the curse.”

“And ya have to cook it?” he asks, with a tilt of his voice that sounds impressed.

“It’s not too difficult.”

Ryuu hums, and then speaks with longing in his voice. “I’d really like to eat something cooked instead of raw meat.” He then gives Chikara a not so subtle glance.

There’s a beat of silence, before Chikara stuck his head out of the window, approaching Ryuu as much as he could. “If you stop being needlessly brutal with the people who come, I will cook for you.”

The dragon’s eyes go big as serving plates. “Really?”

Chikara smiled and nods, and the dragon chortles in delight. “Deal! I will still rough them a bit though.”

He ends up cooking for two more often than not after that.

-

Ryuu looks up from his meal, meeting Chikara’s eyes. “Ya know, meat’s nice and all, but I really wish you had some melonpan.”

Chikara frowns. That’s new. “You like melonpan?”

“Yeah.” He looks away, and tilts his head as he always does when he thinks. “I used to, at least.”

Chikara leans over the window and looks down, where Ryuu is curled on himself, ready to sleep for the night once he’s done with his dinner, moon shining over charcoal scales. “You know, I never asked how you ended up being my guardian. Were you a wild dragon that the witch bounded, or her familiar--?”

“I used to be human.” The blunt answer surprises Chikara, who shuts his mouth immediately. “Had a bad temper and I  _ kinda  _ tried to fight the witch’s son,” he chuckles, somewhere between amused and embarrassed, “so she cursed me to be a dragon and then binded me to this tower and its inhabitant. Can’t get anywhere and I’m forced to fight whoever tries to come in.”

The only noise is the distant call of a cicada. So Chikara’s life is not the only one that had his life chosen for him. “Do you know how to break the curse?”

“Nope.” A pause, then an almost shy question. “Do ya know how to break yours?”

“My true love is supposed to slay the dragon and kiss me.” Ryuu’s tail whips the air in nervous motion. Is it weird Chikara has managed to distinguish when a jerk of his tail is happy, and when another shows discomfort?

“Well, I can’t really go easy on ‘em, but I hope one of these days someone finally manages to free ya.” His tone is forced, obviously, but it’s really Ryuu-like to try and cheer on him even if it would mean his own end.

Chikara smiles sadly, staring for a moment to the curled form of the dragon. He looks pretty small from up there. “Too bad I don’t think I could ever love someone who killed you.”

-

“‘I do’ the princess said, smiling up at her prince. He kissed her, and they lived happily ever after. The end.” Chikara closes the book with a ‘thumph’, and waits for Ryuu comments on the story. As he’s met with silences, he glances down to the dragon, who truly enough is sitting up, looking away in the horizon. 

Chikara is about to scold him for not paying attention after his great interpretation of the characters, then sees his shoulders jump and hears what can only be a sniffle, and realized that even though he technically can’t, Ryuu has teared up.

_ What a softie _ . He’s half tempted to poke fun at him, and normally he would, as it wasn’t the first time that he had been moved by a book, but since he’s known Ryuu’s lack of a happily ever after, he has started to understand why he enjoys them so much in tales.

Chikara leans his head on a hand. “I tried to bake, do you want to try some bread?”

“...Yes.”

-

“She really made a number on you, that warrior princess.”

Ryuu huffs right in his face, just as the injury on his cheek starts to bleed more.

“Don’t move, I think I have something to stop the blood with.”

Chikara takes the blanket from his bed, and presses it against Ryuu’s cheek. The dragon whimpers in pain, but Chikara shushes him. “Don’t be a baby.”

“It hurts,” he complains, and even if it’s not physically there, Chikara can hear him pouting.

Chikara rolls his eyes, then turns his head around, so that he’s facing his uninjured cheek.

“Here, I’ll make the boo-boo go away,” he mocks him.

He presses his lips to the hard and cold scales, the briefest touch, eyes closed.

When he reopens then, the dragon is gone.

In his place is a man, with a shaved head, blood dripping down his cheek, charcoal eyes big in surprise and --- and yes, he’s fully naked.

Chikara shouts in surprise, the man shrieks as well, looking down at himself, palming every part of his skin. He doesn’t even bother covering up as he mutters half-sentences. “I’m- How- Human again?”

Chikara blinks, looking at him up and down. He rubs his eyes, as if what he’s looking at is some sort of hallucination that will go away as soon as he cleans his eyes enough. “Ryuu?”

“Chikara!” The smile that he’s met with as Ryuu calls his name is blinding, like looking at direct sunlight, but Chikara can’t tear his eyes off.

That’s it, until Ryuu tries to hug him, and Chikara is shook out of his stupor. He steps aside, Ryuu’s arms closing around nothing, and throws the blanket on him, as stained with blood as it is. “Cover yourself up! Have you no shame?”

“I’m human!” Ryuu repeats, lopsided grin still in place.

“I see it!” Chikara pinches the bridge of his nose, warmth spreading over his cheeks. “Oh, if I can’t see that,” he then mutters to himself.

“How did that happen?” Ryuu  _ finally _ covers himself with the blanket, throwing it over his shoulders and closing it over his chest. 

“I suppose…” Chikara looks up at the ceiling. “Because I kissed you?”

Ryuu takes a sharp, amazed inhale. “Do ya think it’s a true love kinda thing?”

Chikara makes eye contact again, head moving fast like a whip. “Are you saying I’m in love with you? You were a lizard until a minute ago.”

Ryuu winks at him, and Chikara doesn’t like how cocky he looks. He doesn’t like it one bit. “But my personality was not.”

Maybe he likes it a little.

“I suppose you  _ could  _ say I grew fond of you.”

“Do ya think it worked both ways?” Ryuu walks up to Chikara, in his personal space. Was he always like that, or did the time as a dragon take away his inhibition? He kind of wanted to find out. “Ya can leave the tower?”

Chikara shakes his head. If that were the case, there would be some sort of change in the air, or in the tower, he supposes, but there’s not. “I don’t think it did. And the the curse says I need to  _ be _ kissed, and the dragon slayed.”

“Well, the dragon’s not here anymore.” He takes another step forward.

“ _ You _ were the dragon.” Chikara realizes where Ryuu is directing the conversation, and feels himself suppress a smile.

Ryuu’s full of confidence as he places a hand on one of Chikara’s cheeks, thumb tracing his cheekbone. “And we can resolve the be kissed issue.” He leans in, and Chikara find himself doing the same, but then Ryuu blinks and takes a couple of steps back, face bright red and hands waving around, a stuttering mess. “T-that’s it, i-if ya want to. I mean, it  _ is _ a bit w-weird, so I’d understand if ya--”

Chikara closes the distance between them, and presses one of his hands on Ryuu’s - pretty nice, might he say - mouth. “I would be happy to resolve the ‘to be kissed’ issue.”

He has barely finished his sentence that Ryuu has cupped his face in his hands, and has pressed their mouths together, eyes closed, noses smashed and he’s definitely stepping on one of Chikara’s feet. 

Chikara’s surprised gasp is swallowed by the chuckle that comes after, as his own hands cradle the back of Ryuu’s neck, nails scratching his scalp.

They part for a second, but then Ryuu’s all over Chikara’s face again, peppering him with kisses. Chikara laughs, a bubbly noise coming from the centre of his chest.

“What are you--”

“I’m making sure ya’re kissed enough.” Ryuu goes in for another kiss, that Chikara awaits impatiently, but stops and looks behind him, and his grin widens. “Well would ya look at that!”

Chikara follows his eyes, and sees a newly opened door. He looks back at Ryuu, and takes his hand, smiling back.

“Ready for an happily ever after?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I really hope you enjoyed!  
> Love y'all  
> Ziba
> 
> PS: if anyone pictured sir Middle Finger as Futakuchi, kudos to you guys because I know I did
> 
> Personal tumblr: zibasworld.tumblr.com  
> Haikyuu sideblog: volleybaejesus.tumblr.com  
> Twitter: @zibastweet


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